John, In my reading of contemporary history and of that written much later, I do not find that your characterizations of grief and trepidation were par for the course.
It's all a matter of degree that is disputable in the end I suppose Fred. I thought I balanced the "push" and "pull" factors rather fairly and accurately when discussing Prussia vis-�-vis the Kingdom of Hannover and Lower Saxony. The Prussian military "factor" is often overplayed (even to this day) as you and I have both stated before. But it goes without saying that some Saxons, as well as other Germans, never fully aligned with Prussian aims. And this was not but a teeny tiny handful either, or just the Princes (and their underlings) of the resistance. The annexation was never a completely seamless process; many Saxons had no choice but to bite the bullet to some extent. But admittedly, the Prussians were not exactly foreign conquerors either, but more like distant cousins who came a knocking. Many Saxons did embrace the new order, and it has to be emphasized clearly that Bismarck tapped from a growing nationalistic spirit that was clearly manifest throughout Germany at the time. He did not create this on his own, or out of a vacuum.
A few points to consider though. General von Arentschildt and his forces fought gallantly and in pitched battle, and their throwing in the flag as quickly as they did had less to do with their hearts not being in resisting the Prussia intrusion as much as it did with the realization that their outright destruction was at hand. Moltke and Falckenstein had bought time and cleverly surrounded them with two massive armies (Generals von Goeben, von Manteuffel and von Beyer and their troops were all in the vicinity). Continued resistance was no longer in the cards. The Saxon soldiers - like Hannoverians in general - may not have been all that crazy for King George, but they appeared in no hurry to embrace the King of Prussia either, and were in fact urging their Bavarian allies to link up to carry the battle further.
Also, in all fairness, I mentioned there was a -measure- of trepidation and resentment on the part of many Germans when the Prussians were on the march throughout the 1860's, but this only stands to reason. Northerners did emigrate in increased numbers at this time, and many letters can be found of emigrants who had no intention of letting their sons serve or die under the expanding Prussian banner. Whether it was outright opposition to Bismarck and the King of Prussia, or weariness with war in general, is debatable, but I suspect it was a little of both.
By far the largest number of German immigrants who went to America and elsewhere were in search of an improved standard of living. That is beyond question, in 1870 as it was 100 years earlier, and a hundred years later. Far fewer went seeking political or religious freedoms, though of course some did. But I'm not sure how you can argue that the threat of Prussian military service - ultimately with the goal of its avoidance - did not motivate many Germans, the Saxons as much as anybody as they certainly lost out as much as any state at the time of the Prussian incorporation. The Hannoverian Army was a hotbed of disgruntlement for years thereafter, and that has certainly been documented. It took Wilhelm II to right some of these perceived wrongs a generation later, as I mentioned in an earlier post.
Of course there were losers in the upper classes but these represent a very small proportion of society as a whole and did not typically emigrate as they still had more then anybody else.
Yes of which my own family was one, only they did apparently feel the need / necessity to emigrate. Perhaps more of an exception to the rule even amongst the landed classes, but obviously it still happened, as my own kin are proof.
I can not speak for the southern German states as I'm not that familiar with their history but in the north the drive for unification and nationalism was pretty much a bottom up occurance. As a matter of fact, it represented a threat to the established order and caused Prussia to back off with its support for the wars against Denmark to help the Holsteiners gain their German freedom. Popular uprisings during the mid 19th century were common and a continuous threat to the autocratic governments of the time - including that of Hannover. The powers-to-be liked their insular little local states but the people did not. They wanted a united Germany and only Prussia could lead such a state.
This states it well and quite accurately. Only the choice of Prussia to lead the way - which was inevitable really, given no other state was capable of lighting the way at that junction - was not necessarily "the peoples choice" across the board (even if it was pretty much a fait accompli at the time). Not sure if Prussia would ever have accomplished this in and by itself without the remarkable abilities of Bismarck leading the charge. More would do well to read up on the man -- there is much more to the story than first meets the eye. He was a brilliant tactician and strategist, and many of his reforms last to this day (and rightly so). He was also something of a reluctant conqueror when all was said and done, as opposed to say Hitler who more readily embraced the methods of aggrandizement, feeling the need for German expansion outwards was tantamount for Germany's long term survival and prosperity (hand in hand with the destruction of Communism).
I keep reading from you and Jane that a veritable revolt of the people rose up against Prussia and as a result everybody ran off to America. That is simply not true but I invite information to the contrary.
Well speaking only for myself (Jane you're on your own I'm afraid <g>), you are over-reading it then. I actually feared some on the list were going to say at some point WHO LET THAT BLOODY PREUSSEN JB ON OUR LIST TO BEGIN WITH! SAXONS UNITE! 
Kidding aside, if you read back on most of my posts regarding this subject over the last month or so, you will see I am simply acknowledging that some did, not all and certainly not the majority. I simply have tried to state the obvious, which is the new Prussian order came to be for a gamut of reasons (nationalism as much as any other), but it was not hammered into place amid adoring smiles and flag waving from one end of society to the other, even amongst the working classes. There was a degree of trepidation for some. The war with France and Napolean III may have been embraced by most Germans but certainly not everyone, and there were plenty of Saxons in particular shipping out to avoid serving in the army of Prussia. Do you really care to argue that?
Emigration was made easier under Prussian governance. Rules became enforceable as they now became one law across many former states with different rules.
They simply made it easier to do so within conformance of the law, where earlier many Germans had no choice but to seek passage with less regard to the existing (regional) statutes due to the hoops the governing authorities often put them through. At that time the grease of bribery - born of desperation - ran rampant. The Prussians, with typical Prussian efficiency, smoothed out a lot of these unnecessary kinks in the process. Of course it should be noted that many Germans who were destitute had their passage overseas paid by their local community to save the increasing costs to the public purse well before any Prussian reforms were ever enacted.
That some folks didn't want to serve in the military and rather emigrated is normal as the time served could ruin many plans. But it was not specifically Prussian or military service in general that some people tried to escape. Many quickly joined German units to fight for the Union here in the states. Mostly the reasons for emigration were passed down through the generations and something anti-Prussian or anti-German-military served as a better reason than the real one: poverty and a quest for a better life.
One of the greatest high points in German immigration into the United States was during the period 1866-1873, the years which saw the emergence of Prussia as the dominant state in the German lands and the series of wars against Austria, Denmark and France, culminating as we know in the proclamation of the German Empire in 1870/71. This increase in immigration was not a mere coincidence. And they were not all coming to join the Union Army.
Beyond the conscription concerns and avoidance I already mentioned, the number of Catholic immigrants increased in rather dramatic numbers following Bismarck's Kulturkampf (1871-1887) during the power struggle between the Prussian state and the Catholic church. Likewise, Bismarck's Anti-Socialist Laws (1878-1890) caused quite a few Social Democrats to move to the States to pursue their political agendas (and for some, continue their "class struggle"). It was not just a tiny portion of the landed class who lost out or shoved off.
The main reason in fact that emigration curtailed as time went on after the German Empire was founded had more to do with the spread of industrialization and the rapid growth of German cities (and thus an increase of opportunities) than Prussian reforms alone, or a wholesale embracing of the new order. More people who may have otherwise chosen to emigrate went instead to these large cities and industrial towns that were now rapidly expanding, rather than to America or beyond.
Whether "push factors," fanned by disgruntlement with the Prussian way of running things, and/or living conditions in general in Germany, or whether "pull factors" -- faith in more favorable opportunities in the United States -- exercised a greater influence on many emigrant's decision to leave, is impossible to ascertain. Somewhere in between lies the answer no doubt.
We need to always remember that by far most immigrants came from the bottom barrel of society. They were the day laborers, the Heuerleute and landless farmers whose main goal was to own some land anywhere they could get it. The US was the best place to achieve that dream. Society was still mostly rural and land ownership was at it's base.
Fred
Could not agree more. Your post is well written as usual. But then we actually agree on most things, as I have come to see. 
Perhaps more to the point (and as I stated before), to know Germany is to know Prussia, and vice-versa.
Jb
Jb